THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - LOS ANGELES

Department of Information Studies

IS246 Information-Seeking Behavior

Fall 2005

Assistant Professor Ethelene Whitmire

Class time: Tuesday 1:30 - 5:00 p.m.

Place: GSE&IS 111

Office: GSE&IS 214

Office phone: 310.825.7959

Office hours: Wednesdays 1:30 - 3:30 pm & by appointment

E-mail: whitmire@ucla.edu

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Course Description

Survey of information needs, information seeking behavior, and information use by people in their various roles, situations, and contexts. An examination of the methods that are used to study information needs, uses, and information seeking behavior.

Course Objectives:

1. To foster awareness and understanding of (1) how people process information, (2) major theories and models of information seeking behavior, and (3) how users and use have been studied.

2. To introduce a wide range of user groups' information needs, uses, and information seeking behavior.

3. To facilitate study of the information needs, uses, and information seeking behavior of a user group of the student's choosing.

Assignments

Grading Summary:

1. Assignment #1: Personal Information Seeking Behavior 20%

2. Assignment #2: Abstracts 20%

3. Assignment #3: Community Case Study 50%

Written Report (40%)

Oral Report (10%)

3. Assignment #4: Class Participation 10%

Week 1 - October 4 - Introduction

PowerPoint Slides - if you don't have PowerPoint you can download a PowerPoint viewer for free by going to google.com and entering free powerpoint reader.

Week 2 - October 11 - An Introduction to Information Seeking Behavior & Use

" Julien, H., & Michels, D. (2004). Intra-individual information behaviour in daily life. Information Processing and Management, 40(3):547-562.

" Sarling, J. H., & Van Tassel, D. S. (1999). Community analysis: Research that matters to a north-central Denver community. Library & Information Science Research, 21(1): 7-29.

" Wiegand, W. (1998). Mom and me: A difference in information values. American Libraries, 29(7): 56-58.

Week 3 - October 18 - Library Use

" Kracker, J., & Pollio, H. R. (2003). The experience of libraries across times: Thematic analysis of undergraduate recollections of library experiences. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(12): 1104-1116.

" Leckie, G. J., & Hopkins, J. (2002). The public place of central libraries: Findings from Toronto and Vancouver. Library Quarterly, 72(3): 326-372.

Week 4 - October 25 - Research Methods

" Koontz, C. M., Jue, D. K., & Lance, K. C. (2004). Neighborhood-based in-library use performance measures for public libraries: A nationwide study of majority-minority and majority white/low income markets using personal digital data collectors. Library & Information Science Research, 27(1): 28-50.

" McKechnie, L.E.F. (2000). Ethnographic observation of preschool children in the public library. Library & Information Science Research, 22(1): 61-76.

*Assignment #1 Due

Week 5 - November 1 - Models

" Krikelas, J. (1983). Information-seeking behavior: Patterns and concepts. Journal of Documentation, 19(2):5-20.

" Kuhlthau, C.C. (1988). Developing a model of the library search process: Cognitive and affective aspects. RQ, 28:232-42.

Week 6 - November 8 - Research by Social Role and Demographic Group

" Agada, J. (1999). Inner-city gatekeepers: An exploratory survey of their information use environment. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(1): 74-85.

" Agosto, D. E., & Hughes-Hassell, S. (2005). People, places, and questions: An investigation of the everyday life information-seeking behaviors of urban young adults. Library & Information Science Research, 27(2): 141-163

Week 7 - November 15 - Research by Occupation

" Attfield, S., & Dowell, J. (2003). Information seeking and use by newspaper journalists. Journal of Documentation, 59(2), 187-204.

" Borgman, C. L., et. al. (2005). Comparing faculty information seeking in teaching and research: Implications for the design of digital libraries. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 56(6): 636-657.

Week 8 - November 22 - Web & Internet Information Seeking and Use

" Fidel, R. et al. (1999). A visit to the information mall: Web searching behavior of high school students. Journal of the American Society of Information Science, 50(1), 24-37.

" Pettigrew, K. E., Durrance, J. C., & Unruh, K. T., (2002). Facilitating community information seeking using the Internet: Findings from three public library-community network systems. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(11): 894-903.

Week 9 - November 29 - Reading

" Sheldrick Ross, C. (1999). Finding without seeking: The information encounter in the context of reading for pleasure. Information Processing and Management, 35(6), 783-799.

" Sheldrick Ross, C., & Chelton, M. K. (2001). Reader's advisory: Matching mood to material. Library Journal, 126(2): 52-55.

Week 10 - December 6 - Group Presentations and Course Evaluations

The final report is due on Friday, December 9th by 5pm.

Attendance & Assignment #IV Class Participation (10%)

Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. A student who must be absent, leave early, or arrive late for a class meeting still has certain responsibilities:

1. To inform the instructor in advance, or if advance notice is not possible, as soon after the absence as possible.

2. To arrange for delivery to the instructor of any assignment due at the class meeting.

3. To obtain notes, handouts, etc. from a classmate (in anticipation of this need, each student is advised to exchange telephone numbers with one or two others in the class).

Points are deducted for: unexcused absences, coming late to class, or leaving class early.

Active participation includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Being involved in class discussions,

2. Asking relevant questions, debating, or challenging points raised in class,

3. Offering examples through work or life experiences.

Students with disabilities

See the Office for Students with Disabilities, A255 Murphy Hall, 310.206.3628, TDD 310.206.6083

Academic integrity

See the UCLA Student Conduct Code http://www.deanofstudents.ucla.edu/studentconductcode.pdf

-- The academic dishonesty section

Assignment I - Personal Information Seeking Behavior

Due: October 25 (3 double-spaced, 12pt Times New Roman page limit)

Report of personal information seeking experience (20%)

For a period of roughly two weeks, you will consciously assess your own, everyday information needs and sources of information as you engage in information seeking behavior. Identify one substantive information seeking experience from this time period to report on.

Include the following elements in your paper:

" A description of your information need.

" An indication of how you identified this as a need for specific information that you could not satisfy from your own knowledge

" A description of your search strategies step-by-step, along with the information sources you consulted.

" An assessment of how effective the strategies were.

" A description of the constraints or barriers you confronted in the information seeking process and how you overcame them; and

" An analysis of the results of your information seeking experience. (How did you decide when to stop? Are you satisfied with the results? Why or why not?)

In the last section of your paper, reflect on what you have learned from your attempt to impartially assess your own information needs, uses, and information seeking behavior. Please link your discussion to readings, lectures and class discussions to date.

Assignment II - Abstracts

Due: Throughout the quarter (250 words, 12pt Times New Roman page limit)

In addition to the course readings, each student will read an additional article (related to the topic for that week) of their choosing (a bibliography will be provided) and submit an abstract to the instructor. Be prepared to discuss the additional reading in class.

Assignment III - Community case study

In small groups (approximately 5 people), you will study the information needs and uses of a group that is of interest to you. Because class members have a variety of interests and backgrounds (public and private sector, large and small organizations, public, school, academic and special library, and so on), we shall focus attention on the information practices of a group within an entity that we all have an interest in: the Los Angeles community. However, the skills you learn in this class are transferable to any organization you belong to, whether as an employer or employee or volunteer. In our class discussions, we will draw comparisons between information needs of the community we are studying, and information needs in settings where we have work or volunteer experience.

Here are some potential communities:

By demographic factors: elderly, children, women, immigrants, poor, undergraduates.

By occupation: humanities scholars, journalists, scientists, engineers, physicians, lawyers, firefighters.

By life experiences, interest and beliefs: battered women, hobbies, political orientation, sexual orientation, religion, ability/disability.

Specific examples are self-help organizations such as a community center; a food co-op; a parents' organization; an advocacy group; an animal rights group; an environmental group; cancer patients; visually impaired people, musicians, cancer patients, international university students, home schooled students, etc.

Guidelines

The project is divided into two parts: written report and oral presentation.

1) Report (40%)

This is a group production. The final written report should be organized, polished, proof-read and written in formal language. The report should include the following sections: Research questions and background, literature review, methodology, findings and conclusions.

The final report is DUE December 9 (15-20 pages)

Consider the following when writing the report:

a) Research questions & Background section. This is your introduction. Present your research goals and the questions you expect your study to answer. Describe the group in detail, including elements such as age, background, level of education. Describe the organizational setting if there is one. Explain what is the aim of group, history of the group. Describe the resources -- staff, volunteers (numbers, responsibilities, education), equipment, office space, printed materials, access to Internet, etc. Include any other information that will help the reader of your report to understand the group you are studying.

Suggested length: 2-3 pages.

b) Literature review section. Do a literature search to identify recent research and reflection on the information needs and behavior of your user group or a similar group. Summarize this literature: what is known about the information needs and uses of this group? Include a brief description of your search strategy (sources consulted, search terms used).

Suggested length: 2-3 pages.

c) Methodology section. In this section, describe your methods of inquiry. What questions are you asking yourselves? What methods do you use to answer these questions? (e.g., contacts you made with different types of group members such as leaders, advocators, regular members, information professionals who offer services to the group; documents you analyzed; interviews and surveys you applied, etc.)

Suggested length: 3-4 pages.

d) Findings section. In this section, you describe and interpret your results. Possible formats for descriptions include tables, graphs and narration. Include elements such as barriers to access and use of information; time constrains; high, medium, low priority of information needs. You may want to compare your perception of your group information needs with the perceptions of the information professionals who offer services to the group.

Suggested length: 4-6 pages.

e) Conclusions. In this section, summarize your conclusions, and (if appropriate) make recommendations for action. Try to prioritize your suggestions, so that you divide them into proposals that could be implemented immediately, and those that would require longer-term planning. What are the implications of your findings for library and information services in the Los Angeles area? What constraints limited the applicability of your findings? Suggest possibilities for further research.

Suggested length: 3-4 pages.

2) Oral presentation (10%) Oral presentations will take place on December 6th. These oral presentations should total 20 minutes: about 15 minutes for the actual presentation, and 5 minutes for class questions. The group should prepare either a printed handout, or an audio-visual aid. Each group member should participate in the presentation. As 20 minutes may be not enough to present all the work you did, you will have to exercise your summarization skills in order to transmit the main points of your research in that short period of time.